Trust, good genes keys to couple’s 70-year marriage

A Morgan City couple, whose marriage began a few months after the end of World War II, will celebrate a milestone Wednesday that few ever reach.
Wednesday will mark the 70th wedding anniversary of Jimmy Manuel, 96, and Muriel Manuel, 91, of Morgan City.
The Manuels gathered Monday with family members, who were in town for the holidays.
Jimmy Manuel will turn 97 in January, while Muriel Manuel will turn 92 in February.
The couple’s long marriage has been made possible, in part, by the “good genes” that have allowed them to both live into their 90s , Muriel Manuel said.
Convention also played a part in their marriage’s longevity.
“When we were young, people just didn’t get divorced. That’s all. You just didn’t,” Muriel Manuel said. “So you learn to live together.”
The Manuels further reflected on their seven decades of marriage and what helped them get to where they are.
“Life has been good to us,” Jimmy Manuel said.
“Everybody that we know has been a blessing,” Muriel Manuel said.
In one word, Muriel Manuel described the most important thing in a marriage. Trust.
Jimmy Manuel sometimes traveled alone, and Muriel Manuel never worried about what he was doing because he had her trust, she said.
Muriel Manuel, a Morgan City native, taught first-grade for 20 years at Maitland and Norman Elementary schools. Jimmy Manuel went into the insurance business with Muriel’s father. Her grandfather had started that insurance business.
Jimmy Manuel, an Evangeline Parish native, graduated from high school in 1936, got a degree from Southwestern Louisiana in 1939 and another degree from LSU in 1941. Shortly after graduating from LSU, he joined the Army Air Corps before the attack on Pearl Harbor.
During World War II, he was stationed in Trinidad as part of a ground crew whose duty “was to take care of the airfield,” he said. Trinidad and the nearby islands were surrounded by German submarines, and the Air Corps was tasked with hunting the submarines, Jimmy Manuel said.
After being stationed in Trinidad almost two years, he returned home while on leave from the Army in 1944. At the same time, there was a teacher shortage in Louisiana. Muriel Manuel, who was a student at Southwestern Louisiana, volunteered to teach in Evangeline Parish while still in college.
While Jimmy Manuel was home, his sister, who was also a teacher, suggested he go with her to a party. That’s where he met his future wife.
He then went back to Trinidad, was transferred to the U.S., and later stationed in the Pacific. He was stationed on Iwo Jima right after the U.S. Marines took over the island.
Jimmy and Muriel kept in touch during Jimmy’s deployment, and upon his return, they married Dec. 30, 1945. They moved back to Muriel’s hometown of Morgan City where they’ve lived ever since. They now have two daughters, two grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.